According to a commonly used method or process for metal removal by means of a lathe, a single pointed cutting tool is mounted within a tool holder and guided by mechanical slides to interface with a workpiece which has been mounted within a fixture and rotated against the cutting tool. This process, which is commonly referred to as turning, normally results in the removal of an elongated ribbon of metal originating at the cutting tool tip which will be referred to herein as a "chip". A long and stringy chip is most likely to be formed during the turning of soft or ductile materials.
Theoretically during a single machining "pass" a chip is produced whose volume equals the surface area of the workpiece times the depth of cut of the cutting tool. Since only a small portion of the total surface of the workpiece is removed in a single revolution, overall chip lengths can become very long and often exceed many feet in length. Often, the chip forms into a ball or curls around the cutting tool or tool post and can damage the workpiece surface if not removed manually or through the use of a mechanical or hydraulic chip breaker. Mechanical chip breakers are used for some materials and usually take the form of an obstacle formed into or mounted onto the tool, posing an obstruction to the chip flow, breaking the chip into smaller sections. Mechanical obstacles are normally simple in design and tend to produce non-uniform chip segments. Hydraulic chip breaking is also used for some materials, whereby a high pressure stream of coolant is directed straight to the cutting zone breaking the chip into very small segments. The use of hydraulic streams requires recovery of the hydraulic fluid for recycle to minimize costs and to meet environmental concerns. Soft or ductile chips are not easily broken and operator action is frequently required. Chip removal is normally accomplished with these materials by pulling the chip away from the cutting zone as it is generated using tweezers or a hook to engage the chip.